Sect. 2. This being so, how should all that fear God be affected -with the appearances and signs of his indignation ? So was David, Psal. cxix. 120. " My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am " afraid of thy judgments.'' He that feared not a bear, a lion, a Goliah, yet trembleth at God's judgment. So did Habakkuk, chap. iii. ver. 16. " When 1 heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered " at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones." Expressions denoting the deepest seizures of fear and greatest consternations : not that I would persuade you to such slavish fear or unchristian dejection, as it is not only sinful in itself, but the cause and inlet of many other sins; but to a due sense both of the evils of misery that will befal the nation when God's indignation comes upon it ; and the evils of sin that have incensed it; and to such a fear of both as may seasonably awaken us to the use of all preventing remedies. And, First,
1. O that all would lay to heart the national miseries that God's indignation threatens upon us. It is said, Psal. cvii. 34. " A " fruitful land is turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them " that dwell therein." It was long since told England by one of its faithful watchmen*, ' The nation and church in w^hich w^e are, ' are the common ship in which we are all embarked, and if this in 'judgment be cast aw^ay, whether dashed against the rocks of any
* foreign power, or swallowed up in the quicksands of domestic ' divisions, it must need hazard all the passengers : Or if you were
* sure, that for your parts you might be safe, would it not be a « bitter thing to stand upon the shore, and see such a glorious ' vessel as this nation is, to be cast away ? To see this glorious « land defaced, the blessed gospel polluted, the golden candlestick ' removed, it cannot but affect men that have any bowels.
' Or if this move you not, yet to see a stranger to lord it in thy 'habitation, and thy dwelling place to cast thee out; for your
* delightsome dwellings, your fruitful, pleasant, and well tilled ' fields to be made a prey ; for you to sow, and another to reap,
* Impius has segetes ; for* the dehcate women upon whom the wind
* must not blow, to be exposed to the lust and cruelt^r of an
* enemy, and be glad to fly away naked to prolong a miserable
* life, which they w^ould be glad to part with for death, were it
* not for fear of the exchange. For the tender mother to look
THE RifiHTEOITS MAn's REFUGE. 333
* upon the child of her womb, and consider, must this child in
* whom I have placed the hope of my age ; for,
Omnis in Ascanio stat chari cura parentis ;
* He that hath been so tenderly brought up, must he fall into the
* rough hands of a bloody soldier, skilful to destroy ? It had been ' well for me if God had given me dry breasts, or a miscarrying
* womb, rather than to bring forth children unto murderers; or ' if you might be safe, how could you endure to see the miseries ' that should come upon your people, and the destruction of your < kindred.' Thus far he. But alas ! What security have any of us as to our earthly comforts from the common calamity? We may please ourselves as Baruch did, Jer. xlv. 4, 5. and dream of exemption, but by so much the greater will our distress be, when it shall surprize us.
2. You that are the people of God ought to be deeply affected with the spiritual miseries that threaten us in the day of God's in- dignation : do you consider what the removing the candlestick out of its place is ? A departing gospel, the going down of the sun upon the prophets, the loss of your sweet sabbaths and gospel feasts, and the gross darkness of popery to fill the earth : O it is hard parting with these things. It is said, 1 Sam. vii. 2. when the ark was removed, " that all the house of Israel lamented after the " Lord.'' Pity your own souls, and be deeply affected with the misery of others, the poor Christless world who are like to perish for want of vision, Prov. xxix, 18. In the year 1072, saith Mat- thew Paris, preaching was suppressed at Rome, and then letters were framed by some as coming from hell, in which the devil gives them thanks for the multitude of souls sent to him that year.
3. But' especially labour to affect your hearts with the sins that have incensed God's indignation : So did the saints in Jerusalem, Ezek. ix. 4. they sighed and mourned for all the abominations committed in it. So did Lot, 2 Pet. ii. 7. " He vexed his righteous " soul from day to day." So did David, Psal. cxix. 36. " Rivers " of water run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law.'^ O who that loves God can refrain tears, to see the God of pity, the God of tender mercies, a Father full of bowels of compassion, so incensed and provoked to indignation ! Oh, it is an heart-melting consideration where there is any ingenuity. If our afflictions grieve God to the heart, as it doth, Judges x. 16. our souls should be grieved for his dishonour.
4. To conclude, get upon your hearts such a sense of God's in- dignation as may quicken you to the use of preventing duties. So Amos iv. 12. " Because I will do this, prepare to meet thy God,
S34 THE RIGHTEOUS MAN's REFUGE.
" O Israel." So the prophet, Zeph. ii. 1, 2. " Gather yourselves " before the decree bring forth." It was Moses's hoiwur to stand in the breach, Psal. cvi. 2S. And Abraham's to plead so with God, tliough he did not prevail. ♦
Confirming the third proposition, viz. That God hath a special and peculiar care of his own people in the days of his indignation.
Sect. I. JL ROPRIETY and relation engage care and solicitude in times of danger ; we see God hath put such a storge, and inclination into the very creatures, that they will expose themselves to preserve their young ; and it cannot be imagined that the Foun- tain of pity which dropt this tenderness into the bowels of the creatures, should not abound with it himself; is there such strong inclination in the very birds of the air, that they will hazard their own lives to save their young ; much more is God solicitous for his people, Isa. xxxi. 5. As birds Jlying^ &c. to their nest when their young are in danger, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. No mother is more solicitous for her dearest child in danger and distress, than the Lord is for his people, Isa. xl. 15. " Can a woman ^' forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on " the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget " thee." A woman [the more affectionate sex] forget her child, a piece of herself, her sucking child, which, together with milk from her breast, draws love from the heart ! This may rather be supposed, than that the Lord should forget his people.
Two things must here be cleared. 1. That it is so. % Why it is so.
1. That it is so, will appear from,
1. Scripture emblems.
2. Scripture promises.
3. Scripture instances.